Advancements in Nanoenabled Membrane Distillation for a Sustainable Water‐Energy‐Environment Nexus

Abstract

The emergence of nano innovations in membrane distillation (MD) has garnered increasing scientific interest. This enabled the exploration of state‐of‐the‐art nano‐enabled MD membranes with desirable properties, which significantly improve the efficiency and reliability of the MD process and open up opportunities for achieving sustainable water‐energy‐environment (WEE) nexus. This comprehensive review provides broad coverage and in‐depth analysis of recent innovations in nano‐enabled MD membranes, focusing on their role in achieving desirable properties, such as strong liquid‐repellence, high resistance to scaling, fouling, and wetting, as well as efficient self‐heating and self‐cleaning functionalities. The recent developments in nano‐enhanced photothermal‐catalytic applications for water‐energy co‐generation within a single MD system are also discussed. Furthermore, we identify the bottlenecks that impede the scale‐up of nano‐enhanced MD membranes and propose a future roadmap for their sustainable commercialization. This holistic overview is expected to inspire future research and development efforts to fully harness the potential of nano‐enabled MD membranes to achieve sustainable integration of water, energy, and the environment.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Hypercrosslinked Hydrogel Composite Membranes Targeted for Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds via Selective Solution-Diffusion in Membrane Distillation

“…Membrane distillation (MD), a thermal-membrane based desalination technology, is highly promising for treating hypersaline brines, − owing to its distinct merits, such as low sensitivity to salinity, high product water quality and capability of utilizing low-grade energy. − Although a widely acknowledged superiority of MD is nearly 100% rejection of nonvolatile constituents, , the process offers a limited interception to volatile substances, which can pass through the hydrophobic membrane along with water vapor via gas-phase transition. , Considering the extensive usage of various industrial chemicals, water soluble volatile organic compounds (VOCs) widely exist in the industrial wastewater, such as dyeing wastewater, oil and gas produced water and papermaking wastewater, − which threaten environmental safety and human health. Although conventional technologies (e.g., adsorption, advanced oxidation and pressure-driven membrane processes) have been applied for treating VOCs-containing wastewater, − the high energy consumption, complex maintenance and poor efficiency have significantly restricted their applications . For the MD process, VOCs can pass through the MD membranes and be accumulated in the distillate due to its high Henry’s constant, then seriously affect the distillate quality.…”

“…Although conventional technologies (e.g., adsorption, advanced oxidation and pressure-driven membrane processes) have been applied for treating VOCs-containing wastewater, 14−16 the high energy consumption, complex maintenance and poor efficiency have significantly restricted their applications. 17 For the MD process, VOCs can pass through the MD membranes and be accumulated in the distillate due to its high Henry's constant, 10 then seriously affect the distillate quality. To address this challenge, it is highly desired to develop advanced MD membranes with efficient VOCs removal capability for acquiring clean and safe water.…”